I just really wanted to continue regularwars2 story so this would technichly be the second chapter. Read and review.
Chapter 1
Sweat dripped from Mordecai's forehead as he jogged in the hot sun with his M-14. He was training to be an officer in Vietnam and right now he was jogging with all the other officers in training. The drill sergeant was chanting the part of a song and the trainees would chant back the other part.
"I love workin' for Uncle Sam," the sergeant yelled.
"I love workin' for Uncle Sam," the men yelled back.
"It lets me know just who I am." the sergeant yelled.
"It lets me know just who I am." the men yelled.
"One, two, three, four, United States Marine corp."
"One, two, three, four, United States Marine corp."
"One, two, three, four, I love the Marine corp."
"One, two, three, four, I love the Marine corp."
It was two weeks after Mordecai had been drafted into the service. Since he had finished college so he was training to be an officer. His spikes had been shaved off the first day.
Suddenly the sergeant yelled halt. The men stopped with their rifles held against their chests. Mordecai was in the front line of a column of men. To the right of Mordecai was a man named Bill Poe, a friend that Mordecai had made during the first day. To the left of Mordecai was a man whose name he hadn't quit learned yet.
The drill instructor walked back and forth inspecting all the men, finding things to yell at them for. When the instructor got to Mordecai he stopped. His icy blue eyes made shivers run up and down Mordecai's spine. He looked Mordecai up and down before he stopped.
"Private Birdie (a nick name given to him at the beginning of the first week) your fucking shoe is untied," the drill sergeant yelled at him.
Mordecai looked down to see that he was right. Suddenly he felt a cold palm hit his left cheek as the sergeant slapped him.
"Never break eye contact with me, maggot," the sergeant yelled.
"Sir, yes, sir," Mordecai yelled, staring straight ahead.
The sergeant moved to Bill and started yelling at him. Soon the men started marching again.
That night after dinner the trainees had a few minutes to talk before they went to sleep. Mordecai was talking to Bill.
"So, dude, how did you get into the Marines?" Mordecai asked out of curiosity.
"Well, after college I didn't have enough money to start a life of my own and I couldn't go back to my Pa because we got into a fight before I left for college. We both said things that we shouldn't have. So anyways, I didn't have enough money for anything so I just decided to go into the Marines. Maybe serve my country or something," Bill explained.
"Oh."
"What about you, man, uh, bird. How'd you get into the corp?" Bill asked.
Mordecai sighed as he remembered the fear he had felt as he had read the letter from the government.
"My wife, Margaret, and I were out of the job. We were looking for jobs in the paper when I received a letter from the government. Said I had been picked at random to join the Marines. I left three weeks later," Mordecai said.
"You got a wife, man? Shit. I was thinking about getting married to this girl I fell in love with. We both went to the same classes. I would have asked her on a date, but I was too nervous. Plus, after joining the corp, I didn't want to create another broken heart here in America. Just in case, you know, in case I…got shot," Bill said. Mordecai couldn't help but remember how nervous he had been when he had asked Margaret out for the first time. He had stuttered a lot.
"You'll get over it, the nervous part. I know I did eventually," Mordecai said.
Then he fell silent because he was thinking about the second part Bill had said about dying in war. A couple minutes later the drill sergeant turned off the lights and left. Before Mordecai went to sleep he wondered what Margaret was doing.
Margaret had fallen asleep after a day of worrying for Mordecai even though she knew that he wasn't in Vietnam yet. She was dreaming about opening the door and, instead of receiving an American flag from two soldiers, found the corpse of her husband. His eyes were open and staring at her. He was standing up right and was covered in gore.
"Honey, I'm home," he said with a smile.
Margaret woke up screaming. She got control of herself and stopped screaming.
"It was only a dream, just a dream," Margaret kept telling herself.
Soon she drifted off to sleep, again.
One week and six days later
It was the last day of boot camp. Mordecai's spikes were starting to grow back. For four hard weeks Mordecai had endured physical and mental pain. He had marched for hours, run through the obstacle course hundreds of times, done over a thousand pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, and became the best shot in the camp at target practice.
Now he was sitting on Bill's cot, which was right under his. It was almost time to rest and they were talking, again.
"So are you afraid of dying?" Bill asked.
"If I said no then I wouldn't be human," Mordecai responded.
"Man, a week after I get there the Gooks are gonna know who I am," Bill said.
"Oh really. How?" Mordecai asked.
"Because I'm gonna kill twenty of them in the first day. I ain't afraid of no Viet Cong," Bill said.
Mordecai laughed at this. He didn't know why, he just found it funny.
"Yeah, man. So just send me a letter once you're out of the war and maybe we can hang out," Mordecai said.
The drill sergeant turned out the lights and Mordecai crawled under his covers. He lay awake for hours wondering what was in store for him tomorrow. He finally fell asleep at twelve o'clock, midnight.
Next day
The plane ride to Vietnam was horrible. It was very shaky which made Mordecai nauseous and the man next to him puked on his lap halfway through. Once they landed and the plane doors opened Mordecai was blasted by the hot, humid air. As he stepped out onto Vietnam soil, he was surrounded by chaos.
He walked with the others and eventually got his gear, his M-16, and his helmet. After he had his gear and his green Marine clothing on he was hurried of to a Huey. While Mordecai was getting onto the Huey he heard Forunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival was playing on the radio.
As the Huey took off Mordecai took out a picture of Margaret that he had brought with him before he left. She was smiling at the camera as she posed. The ocean was behind her. Mordecai had taken the picture while they had been on a date at the beach. He stuck the picture in the inside of his helmet and put the helmet on.
He looked down at the green vegetation below. It raced by as the Huey flew by. Soon the helicopter was landing at the place where Mordecai was supposed to meet his troops. It was a huge clearing with hooches everywhere for the troops and officers to sleep in.
As the chopper landed Mordecai took a deep breath.
'This is it,' he thought. Then he stepped off the chopper with his duffle bag.